Virtual visit

Thunder Bay residents can now take a trip around the city’s waterfront without ever having to leave their home.

The city’s website now features a virtual exhibit on the history of Thunder Bay’s waterfront. Along with a chronology of the waterfront’s development from 1967 to 2010, the exhibit features photographs, documents and an interactive map.

City archives intern Jessica Flank developed the site. She said the city wants to use the exhibition to showcase the variety of media the archives hold and encourage people to start using the archived information more.

"I really wanted to have an interactive web exhibition letting the user explore the archival holdings in a variety of formats that would be user-friendly," Flank said.

Originally from Thunder Bay, the University of British Columbia student said the biggest surprise for her was being able to see how the city’s waterfront transformed over the years.

"Thunder Bay has such a rich developmental history of the waterfront," she said.

City archivist Matt Szybalski said the exhibition is part of an ongoing effort to highlight pieces of the city’s history on its website.

"We’re not going to tell the entire history of Thunder Bay in one fell swoop. We’re going to tell little stories that will add up," he said. "This is this year’s little story."

Because of the recent development and attention the waterfront has drawn, it became an overwhelming staff favourite to highlight through the city’s archives Szybalski said.

"The waterfront is one of those issues that is of particular interest to most people around the city."

Szybalski said the pieces featured online are just a small sample of what’s available at the city’s archives located on Vickers Street. The archives are open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. No appointment is necessary.